7 october 2008

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a conference at RWS (Russian World Studios) on developments in the national film industry – St Petersburg

Vladimir Putin

At a conference at RWS (Russian World Studios) on developments in the national film industry

Participants:
"Be that as it may, cinema has always been one of the most popular forms of art. We are pleased that in the last few years, the Russian film market has been markedly on the rise. In the last seven years, the number of Russian films more than doubled, and their share in the total box-office takings has gone up nine times".

Vladimir Putin's Introductory Remarks: 

Good afternoon, friends and colleagues,

We have proposed on numerous occasions to get together and discuss the problems of the Russian film industry. We are lucky that we have this opportunity to meet at our first national film studios, the RWS-St Petersburg, which were built with the most modern filmmaking technologies. I do not know about you, the professionals, but I was very impressed.

I think it is also symbolic that we meet during the 100th anniversary of the national filmmaking industry. It is here, in St Petersburg, that our compatriots saw Russia's first feature film a hundred years ago.

Attitude to filmmaking was different back then. At first, it was seen as a trendy gimmick, later it developed into a powerful propaganda instrument. It is no accident that the famous phrase was coined: "Of all the arts, cinema is the most important art for us." True, 15 years ago it was changed into: "Of all the arts, haute cuisine is the most important art for us." But that was quickly forgotten.

Be that as it may, cinema has always been one of the most popular forms of art. We are pleased that in the last few years, the Russian film market has been markedly on the rise. In the last seven years, the number of Russian films more than doubled, and their share in the total box-office takings has gone up nine times.

It is important that the quality of Russian films has also been changing. For the most part, they have reached a very high level; they take part in all international festivals and win prestigious awards. We are always very glad about this, and we are proud of you.

At the same time, cinema's potential as a major instrument of education and building up society's values is not being used in full measure. And this is a subject for serious discussion. Just a couple of hours ago I visited the Humanitarian University of Trade Unions here in St Petersburg, and met with its students, teachers, professors and other intellectuals from our city. They all said the same thing.

As you know, the Government recently endorsed the programme of Russia's social and economic development until 2020. It is based on the ambitious goal of creating an innovation-based economy in the country, that is, a new type of development where the invention and introduction of the most advanced technologies will become standard practice for citizens, corporations, and systems of government management.

In this national development programme, we directly provided for the need to give large-scale information support for the declared priorities. It goes without saying that filmmaking can and must play a big role in this respect.

It is clear that organization of the system of public participation in the production and distribution of domestic films will require a new approach. In this context, we have already made decisions on the allocation of considerable funds to support our filmmaking industry.

This applies to films which are aimed at promoting a value system that meets the interests of Russian society and facilitates the strategic task of national development. The Government will spend as much as $2 billion rubles a year for this purpose. We will pay great attention also to the development of films for children, art films, and documentaries.

In addition, it is very important to support those Russian filmmaking companies which make quality movies and attract big audiences. There is an idea to allocate to them bonuses and grants from the budget, which would amount to10% of box-office takings.

We are planning to earmark at least $4.3 billion rubles for these and other measures to support national filmmaking companies starting in 2010. We hope that this will increase the share of domestic films in the Russian market to 30% in the next four years.

I would like to add that we have started developing a unified federal system called the Electronic Ticket. I have already discussed this with Mr Mikhalkov. In fact, he suggested this idea, referring to some problems with film distribution. We hope that this system will give us full information about film distribution in the country.

I would like to emphasize that all these measures are aimed at giving our film companies a good start, and allowing them to compete not only on the Russian but also on the world market. Success of the national film industry means a consolidation of Russian culture's influence at home and abroad, and it depends on our ability to resolve this task.

In this context, we should pay attention to domestic filmmakers who work successfully in the CIS and Baltic markets.

We should bear in mind that filmmaking does not boil down to creativity. It is a powerful industry based on modern technologies. In effect, we have seen this once again now when Mr Meskhiyev showed us what has been done on this site. This is not just about making a movie. It also has to be replicated, delivered and demonstrated. Needless to say, development of modern filmmaking is impossible without powerful production infrastructure. This is an acute problem because the Russian film industry does not have an adequate technical base, and is short of professionals and profile specialists. These tasks should be tackled in real earnest.

It is also necessary to expand the distribution of domestic films. Until recently, serious hopes were pinned on private investors. These hopes were largely justified because the number of modern cinemas was growing rapidly. Now we have more than 1,700.

However, it is clear that private business is primarily interested in profit and prefers to work in big cities, where there are big audiences and more money than in small towns.

Regrettably, as a result, a gap in access to films in different regions has become wider. Today, there are only 10% of modern cinemas in Russian cities with a population of less than 100,000 people. More than half of Russian people live in these regions.

This is not only a problem for filmmakers. There is no doubt that this acute social problem has been caused by our failure, I mean the Government and the state as a whole, to guarantee the constitutional right of equal access to cultural values.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that public support for the film industry should conform to market realities.

We can help make a film. Of course, we can do it, and, as I said, we will do this. But we cannot make an audience watch a film if it is not well made. Here, we have to rely on your talent, professionalism, and firm civil position.

I believe that these are not all but some urgent problems which I suggest we discuss today, and which we must resolve in the near future.

Thank you for your attention. Let's get down to our agenda.